redistricting

The future of Arizona’s legislative map is in the hands of three federal judges, who wrapped up four days of trial testimony March 28 and heard pointblank denials from Democrats that they gerrymandered the districts.

A Democratic redistricting commissioner and the Democratic party’s interim executive director denied insinuations they were part of a conspiracy to rig the state’s legislative maps. But newly released records showed party leaders and incumbent lawmakers were at least included in mapping strategy emails sent to the commissioner on his non-commission email account. And phone records show more connection than the commissioner had previously acknowledged.

The Republican conspiracy theory that accuses Democrats of rigging the state’s legislative district map during the most recent redistricting cycle now includes the alleged involvement of Richard Miranda, a former Arizona lawmaker who is currently serving time in prison for unrelated crimes.

The state’s redistricting commission will run out of money before legal fees accrued in multiple lawsuits can be paid, the commission’s staff said Thursday. The commission’s director has begun negotiating with the Legislature over another supplemental appropriation.

The state’s redistricting commission is set to discuss the lawsuits it is embroiled in today, and weigh an appeal of a recent ruling that forced commissioners to answer questions from attorneys who want to prove a conspiracy led to a legislative map that critics say favors Democrats.

With less than two weeks before the start of the trial over whether a Democratic conspiracy rigged Arizona’s legislative map, attorneys representing each side are engaged in an 11th-hour fight over what testimony will be included and what evidence each side will get to introduce.

Attorneys hoping to prove that three of Arizona’s five redistricting commissioners intentionally designed legislative districts to favor Democrats made progress March 7 in their fight to get the commission’s attorneys to release more of the commissioners’ internal documents and communications.

A series of court rulings issued late last week in two lawsuits against the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission further pave the path for Republican litigants who hope to prove the commission illegally created maps to favor Democrats.